Mass Effect: Untitled
by primalbaby
Summary: A human living on Omega winds up with a rough group to escape his past, but some members are not so fond of him, neither is he fond of them. Will he be able to gain favor with them and settle the score of his deeds or will he, and possibly these new friends, ultimately fail?
1. Prologue

**Prologue - **

It was night now, or what would pass as night by Earth's standards, on the station. It was the roughest place in the galaxy but somehow still maintained a slight semblance of order. There was a dark auburn glow all around the station, cast by the upper crimson lights running the outer edge, that caused an eternally gloomy feeling. He felt free here usually, but not now. Not after what happened. Since then, he had had one goal and now was the time to execute his deeply thought out plan. He had bought a rifle off of a weapons dealer only a few days ago, and had minimal practice with it. As he studied it for a moment, he noticed how beaten up it was. How many others had both killed and been killed with this gun, he had no idea. Scratches and nicks littered the barrel, and a few initials marked the side of it, showing ownership that no longer existed. Tally marks were etched into the side as well, probably from some wannabe badass. There was only a few, hinting that the scorekeeper's desires for greatness didn't last long. There was dark corridors on either side of the bridge that he was on, which he watched for days, studying the ups and downs of traffic of the entire area to know when the right time was. During busier hours, the bridge, hallways and the throughway beneath were lit brighter by lights that gave off a golden glow, giving easy visibility to all surroundings. Trash filled corners and edges of rooms, hallways, every nook and cranny one could find. Empty cups thrown down by those without a care in the world. Containers with half eaten food left on tables, waiting for the next vagabond on his desperate hunt to see it with wide eyes. Large cables and cords ran mostly along ceilings, with a few drooping down here and there. Pipes used for plumbing, ventilation and other such necessities existed behind walls and in ducts. Every now and then, wall panels were missing, revealing cables or pipes like an open wound to the station. The man had set up a few no-name boxes next to the railing on either side of the bridge to give him a little extra room for as much accuracy as possible, as well as some refuge from sight. They were covered in grime and existed as parts of unclaimed garbage by those who once owned them, and blended into the scenery, giving no reason for suspicion in the off chance that the man's target or his lackeys may look up in his direction. He sat behind it, facing the same direction as his target would be, so as to not be noticed or seen through the glass siding. His hands were cold, and he was starting to become tired after seventy-two hours of being awake. It wasn't a horrible matter, he wasn't going to sleep right now anyways, at least not until this was finished. He noticed that he was hungry, but it could wait. He was tense, which was normal in this type of situation, but even more so now, because of who it was. The only thing he could picture in order to get his mind off his agitation was the days he had experienced not so long ago. Life seemed easier then, even though he knew it was just the rosy feel of the past, and that things were still rough. The nostalgia was cast away when he heard a laugh below him, meters away. He got up from his sitting position and peered over the box and railing. He saw them, a couple hundred feet away, and had to prepare. He had already loaded his rifle with a fresh thermal clip, but he had extras in the chest pockets of his dark vest, just in case. Using the small amount of ambient light afforded to him, he checked them again to ensure that they were there. There was three of them, a batarian and two turians. They were facing away from him, standing under the wheat-colored light as they talked to one of few food vendors they had under their thumb. One stood off to one side, staring at the large murals painted onto the wall ages ago which had faded and weathered to almost unrecognizable stages. Bullet holes interrupted what was left of the beautiful expressive imagery that had drawn customers to the business nearby in years past. Some care was needed by them to not trip over a several inch thick cable winding through the large room they were in. The sign, "Melia's Grilled Meats", glowed orange above them. The sweet smell that was similar to grilled beef hung over the entire area and touched the man's nostrils as his gut croaked with desire. The situation looked like it was going smoothly. They had eaten, stood next to their stools, and laughed with the turian owner as he started to shut machines down for the night. As they said their goodbyes and the group walked away, the man had to duck behind his single barrier of invisibility. He waited, his time to act was only a minute or two away. His heart was beating harder as he cradled his rifle in his arms, waiting for them to pass under him. As they strolled under the bridge, their voices reached his ears as well as the consistent splash of boots stepping through a puddle. He heard the voice he recognized, the batarian, as he cursed humanity as a whole under his breath, and he froze in place, but they kept walking as the conversation slowly withered. He waited a moment in order to create distance between them, allowing him some slight sounds of movement that they would be too far away to catch, before he crawled over to the other side of his platform, covering and revealing the small lights that followed the sides of the walkway. He came to a kneel, rested the rifle on the metal bar that ran above the glass panels of the railings, and pushed the end up to his shoulder. He set his sights on the one, the batarian, ready to bring to pass what felt like his life's purpose. The sights were unsteady as he shook from nervousness and the lack of fuel that his body was crying out for. He took his final breaths before he served justice to one who deserved it more than any other. He inhaled and then exhaled. He inhaled again, and exhaled again. He inhaled once more, and a single image of her flashed before his eyes. Her raven hair down in no organization, and stuck to her cheek on one side. A radiant golden pearl shining in her azure eyes as she gazed right at him. He saw her lips move to form the syllables as her voice echoed in his ears.

"I love you."

The memory dissipated as quick as it came, and he pulled the trigger.


	2. Chapter 1

The man looked at the ceiling as he swallowed the remainder of liquid in his glass. He was hoping the buzz that would soon come would ease the stress he was feeling. It was tired, and he was sick of it. The hazy atmosphere surrounded him and he was covered in teal blue by the lights in the table in front of him and behind it. The steady thump of the bass reverberated all of his insides. This was his usual place now, atleast until he figured out what to do. He could run somewhere soon, somehow hitch a ride to some new place and try to begin life anew, however hard that was. Maybe he'd end up dead within the next week. Either possibility seemed plausible. He set his glass back down on the table and the turian bartender walked pass, asking if he needed another. The man gave him an affirmative response. While he waited for another drink, he turned around in his chair a little bit and watched those dancing, trying to calmly take in the surroundings again, and appreciate the moment. There was a dance floor, about twenty meters wide and long. To the right was some stairs down to the entrance, with many people of all races coming and going. The dance floor itself was washed in colors of all kinds, and it was populated by an array of different species. Humans, with all their different tones, turians, asari, and a couple salarians here and there, but not many. The lights cast some shadows of people in his direction, but also brightened others up. They were all moving so freely, music moving their bodies as if it was another being inhabiting them during their time here. He took a deep breath and he looked over to the entrance, maybe twenty five meters from his seat, and saw the constant flow of people entering and leaving. Most were asari, but it was no surprise, a lot of asari came to nightclubs. The bartender returned with his drink and set it down in front of the man. He turned back around in his seat and thanked him and was told to call if he needed anything else. The man laid his hand around the glass and stared into the amber liquid inside, furrowing his brow. He caressed the glass with his middle finger, sliding it left and right on the condensation on the outside. He wondered how long it had been already, and how long he would stay. Those dancing cheered as the song changed to a new one, a fan favorite. They loved it. He watched the fluid in his cup wiggled with the heavy bass and wondered how people did it. He had a hole inside of him that the drinks seemed to fill, slowly. Most of the time it worked well, but sometimes it just didn't do the job. He thought about the recent past, but tried to shake it from his mind and took a swig. Maybe he needed something harder. He twisted to look again at the crowd dancing, and thought he saw her. A grin almost came to his lips, but he blinked a few times, to see what was really there. It was just a regular Asari, with lavender skin, dressed in black. Her top covered her body, save for an oval that seemed to follow her ribs down to the belt. It has a collar that went halfway up her neck, and she had dark red pants, with black segmented rectangles following each other down to her boots. She looked just a little out of place in this type of club, but not on this station. People usually tried to dress a little finer before they showed up here, but she looked like as if she just left work in a warehouse or some other occupation. He looked at the floor, still thinking if he would grab a heavier drink or just give up and go home, as he heard a group of off-duty soldiers on the other side of the room all laugh. Maybe they weren't soldiers. Mercs, more likely. He couldn't really tell, they were on a balcony of the second floor, over looking those dancing. The entire building was filled with conversation, save the bathrooms, of course. He caught shards of conversations, pieces of information about strangers that he doesn't know and that the speaker definitely would not share, were they sober. He decided that he should just give up and go home to force himself to sleep, after one more drink. He turned again to face the bar, waiting for the bartender to come by again. Someone sitting to his left got out of their seat, presumably to go dance, and the round seat was empty for maybe a minute until the sound of steps sounded in the man's ears. Usually he ignored it, people passed by back and forth all night, it was normal, but these steps were heavier.

"Hey, you." The voice said.

It was a slightly low and husky. The tone was penetrating, almost confrontational. The man turned to see the lavender-skinned asari from earlier. She was standing in a strong, straight pose, with one leg stretched diagonally, and had folded arms. Her face was oval shaped, with round cheeks, but she lacked markings on her face, and the man noted that her brow was absent of specific markings that resembled human eyebrows.

"Why were you staring at me?" She questioned.

"Was I? Sorry, I thought you were someone else." He replied.

She seemed unconvinced by that, though it was true, but chose to speak to him anyways. She walked to his left, sat in the chair next to him and waved at the bartender to come over, ordering a drink. The man also ordered another drink, the last one for the night.

"What, you don't believe me?" He said.

The asari shook her head.

"Nope. Why are you here, anyways?" She asked.

"I'm on vacation" He lied.

He knew it was a lie, but it's not like it mattered. Who was this person, and what would either of them have to gain by the truth? He was on his own, although he did wish he had come up with a better lie, that way it wouldn't be so easy to know what was coming next. The asari looked him up and down once.

"Vacation, yeah. From what, some kind of mercenary work?" She questioned.

"Transporting goods." He lied again, hopefully to get her off his back. It wasn't a total lie, but he guessed that it would be too uninteresting for someone to want to dig further. Unless she knew the industry, which he surmised that she didn't. Nor did he think that she would continue to press as she did. She exhaled a quick, small breath through her nostrils and shook her head again.

"No, that can't be it. You're looking too rough for that to be true. You a slaver? An assassin?" She continued guessing. She had a look on her face as if to be a little surprised, would slaver be the truth. The man took another swig of his drink and sighed. She wasn't going to stop until he told the truth, and she had already read through his lie.

"Fine. I used to sling for this group, but not anymore." He drank from his glass again.

"That's it." She said slowly. She studied him for a minute and he wondered why she was so interested. He wasn't looking to meld and didn't have interest in her, aside from her physical similarity to someone he once knew. She took a sip from her drink.

"Red sand, Minagen, Hallex. Whatever else." He elaborated.

"That kind of work is shitty. I used to did it once, a lot of people have. You do what you have to to get by." She reflected. She thought for a moment, looking at her own drink, slowly swirling it around.

"If you're looking for work, I might have something for you, if you need." She offered.

Again, he had no clue as to why she was so open with information and with this type of offer. She had no idea who he really was, he could sabotage whatever it is she might offer, for all she knew. Of course, that was a risk you had to take with work in this area of the galaxy. He looked at her, and then to the crowd, letting the music provide a good wrap around his thoughts. He was needing something. He might take it, whatever it was, atleast it would give him some real respite from running. He looked at her again.

"Why?" He asked, distrustingly.

"Listen, my group and I do small-time mercenary work. Nothing too big, but enough to get by okay, and we need another person. The last guy was a waste of time and you seem like you would know what you're doing."

He again thought for a moment, moving his sight a group of turians on the far side of the room. He had to take it, his only other options were to try to live things out alone, or end up dead.

"So?" She pressed, with an expectant look.

"Yeah, I'll do it." He told her.

"Great." She said, and with the slightest hint of relief on her face, she opened her omni-tool, bathing her face in orange light, and typed a small message. She put it away and slammed the rest of her drink before getting up from the seat.

"I've got to go, but meet with me tomorrow at my apartment. I'll send you the location. I'm Amira, by the way."

"Sawyer." He said. She turned and walked towards the exit, looking to her left as another asari met up with her. He saw Amira open her omni-tool again as they walked through the doorway. The other asari looked back at him and said something to her as the door closed behind them.


	3. Chapter 2

The sun was out, and it was too bright. The sand all around him for miles was lit up, straining his eyes and causing him to squint in order to get some view of his environment. His surroundings were completely void of all civilization or life, not counting him. He could feel the heat on his back, and the sweat that covered his collar. Someone screamed, and Sawyer looked to his left. A woman lied on the ground, her whole top covered in blood to the neck. He ran over to her, taking off his shirt and tearing a long strip from it. He lifted her upper half on his right arm. "Sawyer" she said with a gasp. He hushed her, trying to relieve her of all worry and steel her in the face of her wound. He looked down her body, finding a hole punched into her, the purple cloth around it dyed deep red. He looked in every direction, frantically searching for some type of refuge or source of help for this woman. A thought started to form in the back of his mind, but he couldn't quite clear it enough to understand. Something scratched at his mind. In the distance was a grove of bushes and trees, there had to be someone there that could do something. He moved his left arm under the woman's legs, and, focusing his strength on his own, rose to a standing position with her arms. Beginning to carry her towards the grove, a shot rang out. There didn't seem to be a person around at all to cause that sort of commotion. A coldness poked at Sawyer's left thigh, and looking at the site of it, an excruciating pain gripped him. He fell to a kneel. He knew he had to get to the grove, but the woman spoke to him. "Why did you do this to me?" She asked. He was caked in sorrow and regret at her question. She let out a sigh and her head fell back. Sawyer was nauseous with despair. A flash. He was deep in an ocean, darkness below and a deep, solid blue in every direction. He could breathe, but he was freezing. A lilac squid rose up to him from the depths, and, with its eyes directly pointed to him, wrapped tentacles around his body, giving him warmth. Another voice spoke to him, "who are you?". The warmness disappeared, and the bitter cold returned. Another flash. He was on a rocky hill, with patches of red dirt dotting the landscape. There were darker patches of red, tiny, but still noticeable around him. His heart felt as if his chest was far too weak to keep it caged. A varren stood roughly six meters ahead of him. Grabbing a sharp rock, he waited a moment for the creature to look to one side. He hurled the rock with all his might, causing it to fly in a direct course into the varren's left eye. The creature squealed and fell to the ground for a moment, blood pouring to the earth, before looking in Sawyer's direction and charging with a full sprint. As the gray and tan mass came closer, he realized the gigantuan size of the creature. He reached for a knife at his belt, only to find it was absent. He ran, with hope to escape the beast, down the hill. A jungle appeared in front of him, with species of plant and foliage fighting eternally to live. He entered it, brushing past massive leaves and trees flying by in his peripheral vision. Birds and all kind of creatures filling the noise around him, and a vibrant color presented itself every now and then as a creature was passed in his haste. His footing was lost on some unknown type of plant, and he fell to the ground, turning around to see the massive pale orange blur jump at him, slamming its forelegs onto his shoulders. Terror filled his entire being, knowing that this was it. The teeth were bared greatly, large and menacing, the maw of the beast opening vastly, started to close in around Sawyer's vision. He let out a scream, a deeper scream. It continued as everything else disappeared and he shot awake, in his apartment. Sweat clung to his entire body, his chest heaving, heart pounding. Brown hair drenched with sweat. He looked around his room, there was nothing, yet some slight drops of fear still gathered in his heart as he tried to adjust. With a look at his clock, he read the time as about mid-day. It was almost time to meet up with Amira again, and whatever she had planned. Throwing the blanket off of him, he got up to realize just how cold it was in his unit. My heat better not have gotten turned off again, he thought. He walked diagonally across his room, maybe fifteen feet, almost tripping over bottles and cups on the floor, and through a doorway into his bathroom. His mirror reflected his image back to him, striking him with some reflection on the past weeks. How had he gotten to this point in his life? He shook his head, moving his mind away from dwelling on things too much. The bathroom was arguably cleaner than the rest of his apartment, with the shower clearly being the cleanest. He turned the water on, stripping his nightwear from his body and stepping in. The warmth was gratifying for a moment, before it turned cold. The heat did get turned off, he bitterly understood. It wouldn't be long until he was evicted, so this new endeavor had better work out. He cleaned himself hurriedly, to spend as little time suffering the cold as possible, and went back into his bedroom to redress. It was sloppy, but it was enough. He wore a tight shirt with no sleeves, dark gray, with thick black rectangles going down to the hem from under his arm. His pants were black with large pockets, ending at the ankle to reveal dark boots. The dresser was chest level, decorated on top with pictures of himself and some of his family. A humble plant sat withered in a small white vase, though it did once have color and vibrancy and life to it. He walked over to his nightstand, stopping to pick up a necklace. It was a gift that he had once given to her, the fire that spurred life into his heart, it was made of tens of tiny cheap metal links, joining together at a single half inch diameter ring, that surrounded and gripped an hexagonal cylinder of a light pink rock. He had worked for months to get that for her, and she loved it. He sighed, and put it into his pocket, before turning his lamp off. Taking some shirts and other items of clothing from the drawers, he stored them in a side bag that lied under the bed. Slinging it over his shoulder, he walked to his apartment's door. The flat wall split into two horizontal segments, and slid into the ceiling and floor, allowing him to walk out into the hallway. It was even dirtier out here, grime covered the ground throughout the corridor. The ceiling was open to wiring and pipes, although the lights gave disguise to them. He made his way down the hall and into a more open reception area and then to the right and out into what equated to a street on a regular world. He walked up a few stairs to a platform with multiple kiosks, used to call a shuttle over to go to another location. A couple were currently occupied and used by asari and turians, but one of them was open, so he hurried up to it before that changed. As he got up to it, he opened his omni-tool, moving a window of information out of the way to reveal the location of Amira's apartment, then entering both the location and his name on the screen of the kiosk. After some time, a red shuttle arrived, dark windows and one arm coming off to one side, pointing toward the front. The front opened to reveal a turian driver. "Sawyer?" He asked. Sawyer responded in the affirmative, and got in. The ride was dead silent, Sawyer let his gaze relax into a blank stare as he thought about the previous night. All of a sudden he had to be somewhere again, meeting someone, doing something. It felt as if it had been forever since he had to do any of that. The movements of the shuttle in and out of lanes as the driver delivered him to his destination were absent from his attention. As they slowed into another shuttle platform, Sawyer opened his omni-tool and typed in an amount of credits, sending it to the driver immediately. "Here you are." The turian had said, and Sawyer thanked him. This district was touched in a reddish light and fog like the one he lived in, but maybe a little less so, in this area at least. There was a smaller amount of people here, though it wasn't dead. There were a couple more salarians here, he noticed, and wondered why, but quickly ignored it. It wasn't important. The residences in this district were bigger than the ones he lived in, although there were less of them. As he started toward a labyrinth of halls and throughways, with the lights above him repeatedly covering him in a glow, he consulted his omni-tool again for the location of Amira's apartment. It was a couple, what would be considered city blocks on Earth, from his position. After some time, he arrived at the destination, and meandered up and down the hall for a few minutes waiting for his asari contact to meet with him. Eventually he leaned against a wall, waiting. The pale yellow light above the corridor flickered every few moments as he focused his attention on a single bug wandering around on the floor, meagerly searching for some bit of food. Just as his patience was wearing thin, she appeared at the far end of the long hall.


	4. Chapter 3

She wore a thick tanktop, grayish tan in color, with a thin blue scarf around her neck. As she arrived into speaking range, she spoke. "Ah, you're here. Good. Follow me, I had some things to attend to a little ways from here, I've told Tilus about bringing you on and he's willing to." They made their way through the maze again, and arrived at a docking station for ships. As they walked down a stone staircase to the loading area, Sawyer saw the ship. It was a human vessel, which seemed odd to him, considering there were no humans loading anything onto the ship. A frigate, and a small one at that, it was hexagonal, with the two upper faces on either side being wider than the others. There were rectangular pieces coming off the back end, resembling fins of some sort, that he knew would glow when they got up to speed. At the front, the hexagonal shaped converted smoothly to a triangular prism, with a corner pointing down and a dark band across the front. Two more fin-like protrusions came off the bottom sides, pointing diagonally down. They were far thicker in size than any of the other pieces, save the core component. In all the ship was about one-hundred and seventy meters long. Enough for a crew to be on board, but not extravagant. Amira called out to the two loading cargo onto the ship. "Ah, my fine servants! Here to do as I command!" The turian, while holding a box, shook his head and carried it into the dark shell, almost full of boxes. The other asari's shoulders fell a little as she recognized who it was speaking, and gave a short stare before rolling her eyes. Sawyer and Amira reached the bottom of the rough stone steps, and walked up to the groups of containers waiting to be transported into the ship, with the turian walking out to meet them. His skin was a dark violet, and white markings covered his forehead and mandibles. He wore an ebony top, with some light gray markings, and dark gray pants. "So you're the new guy that Amira claims won't be a waste of time. I'm Tilus, I keep this group of insufferables in line, and that, is Naissa." He said, pointing to the asari with a blue complexion, who was leaning against an orange container, clad in black and purple. "Amira has confidence in you, but you'll still have to prove that you know what you're doing. Slinging drugs isn't the same as what we do." Tilus states as he moved a hand out towards Sawyer, gesturing to shake hands. Sawyer grasped his three fingered hand as Naissa questioned what was said. "Him? He's the new guy?" She said with tone of contempt, as if it was a terrible suggestion. Her brow wrinkled in a wondering but shocked manner. Tilus and the others turned to look at her, while she kept sight with him. "He's a human! Remember the last guy? And what about Bahak? He's not gonna be happy about this." She folded her arms in her final statement. "He'll get over it, he'll be fired up about it but he'll see reason and settle back into his usual self." Tilus retorted. "Sawyer is way more qualified than that last one, anyways." He began to elaborate on Naissa's statement. "We have a batarian in our group, he's not here, obviously, but he isn't a fan of humans." A small flame started in the pit of Sawyers stomach at the mention. A batarian. The memory of his efforts in ending his dealings with the last batarian he knew came to his mind. He forced it down, had to swallow it and work with them, it's the best option that he'd had in weeks. "We'll deal with that later, help us move some of this onto the ship and then we'll find a place for you." Tilus said. As he nodded, Sawyer saw Naissa shake her head and turn around to pick up a box. Amira, during this conversation, had moved a couple boxes onto the ship, leaving only a handful left for the rest of them. They were covered in all colors, orange, white, red. Some were about about half a meter, while the others were smaller, only a foot tall. Sawyer noticed that the smaller ones seemed to be heavy for their size, he could only guess it was most likely thermal clips. As he carried a box up the ramp and set it down on top of other larger ones, his eyes adjusted to the darkness of the wide chamber. On one side was where he and the others had stacked crates of all sizes, while on the other were two large containers, which Sawyer assumed held parts of vehicles of some sort. At the far back, there was an entrance which seemed open into a hall that split off in either direction and another door directly ahead. Tilus waved him over, and they walked through the door way and into the hall, which was oddly gray, yet still covered in grime here and there. They walked down the right end, and then into a room that clearly was the living quarters for the crew. It was maybe six meters wide, three meters deep. It was darker, the walls were a dark gray, and the lights were not too bright. On the far end of the room were three large rectangles cut into the wall, each next to each other, which held a bed with a small sliding wall to block out noise and light when needed. There was one more of these bed-alcoves on both the left and the right walls. Small desks were in each corner of the room, with shelves that slid out from the walls next to each bed as well. "You'll be taking that one," Tilus said, pointing to the nook on the right wall. "feel free to put your stuff on that desk, and in the shelves." Sawyer set his bag down on the end of the bed before they walked out of the room and into the next one, on the left. The door slid open to reveal a cleaner room, with five showers along the right wall with separating wall segments and curtains, a mirror to the left, and two sinks. Into the hall again, there were stairs to the left of that door, leading down into the bowels of the ship. "Ship systems and things are down there." said Tilus. He then guided Sawyer back down the opposite direction of the hall, and turning right, through the door that was opposite to the cargo area, into a great room with a desk in the center. There were terminals on either side of the desk, and a hologram of the Milky Way above it. Chairs and screens lined the right side of the room, but most, if not all, were completely off. Tilus indicated that this was where planning would occur for their doings throughout the galaxy. On the left side of the room was multiple small pins coming off of the wall, holding guns of all types, but mostly smaller rifles, and handguns. Every so often, there was a shelf cut into the wall, holding some types of grenades, and close to the door, was a red box bolted to the wall, with a medical symbol, holding first aid supplies. Going to the furthest end of the room, there was another door, which revealed a small chamber with an airlock to the right. A seat sat about half a meter above the floor level in the rest of the room, and another hologram of the Milky Way with multiple screens on either side. There was a smaller seat, with a few screens down and to the left of that one. This was the cockpit. After explaining this to the human, Tilus turned around, and said, "This is all it, there's another bathroom and bedroom on the other end of the hall we were in earlier, but since we are a bit of a skeleton crew for this ship, that area has become the faux medical area. Feel free to get comfortable." He offered a handshake to Sawyer, which he took. "We'll all meet together at that desk in about an hour or so." Sawyer nodded and walked back into the bedroom area, laying on his bed and thinking over the recent events. He felt his thoughts starts to slide away as his eyelids got heavy. He was warm and the call to sleep was inviting. He jolted himself awake. Not yet, he thought. He got up from his bed and swiped his satchel up from the floor, bringing out some shirts of different colors, pairs of pants, and socks and laying them in the assigned drawers. He wondered whether it would be enough, his past work, to be able to stay on despite that batarian that was mentioned. If he stays out of my way, then things should go fine, but maybe I'll only stay a while. Long enough to secure something better, he thought. After putting away his clothes, Sawyer walked out of the room, down the hall, and into the converted medical area. Some of the drawers that were built into the walls like the other room, were open, a couple stuffed with rags and whatnot. There was a table in the center, with some specks of old dried blood on it. This room's color was equally dark as its twin, but there were more lights, brighter lights. No doubt for stitching each other up when it was needed. He almost didn't notice it, but after some time, he heard voices in another room. They were deep, but he couldn't identify them yet. He walked to the door of the room and as the two halves separated horizontally and went their ways, Naissa was revealed on the other side of the doorway. Surprised, she stopped her forward movement right as it started. "There you are. Tilus needs us all in the meeting room." She said as she turned to the side to go back the direction that she came.


	5. Chapter 4

Sawyer made a quick pace through the hall and into the meeting room, seeing all the members that he saw earlier surrounding the table, except one. The batarian stood on the right side of the oblong metallic table, several red lines running from the center zipper in his semi-tight jumpsuit around and joining in the back. His pink face shone blue in the light of the hologram of the galaxy, and reflected off his four black eyes, giving Sawyer full view of the scrutinizing look he had of him. As he arrived at the table, the batarian looked to Amira and Naissa, one on his immediate left, and one directly across from him. "What's this?" He asked with skepticism as Tilus made his way to the head of the table from the cockpit. "That's our newest addition, Sawyer." He elaborated.

"A human? Again?" The batarian asked with shock. "You can't be thinking that's a good idea."

"He isn't some overconfident random off Omega that's in too far over his head, Bahak. He had some time smuggling and trading." The turian said.

"What, he did some deliveries and now he has experience? Do you not remember the last human we had? We can't trust his kind!" Bahak's guttural voice raised in volume slightly.

"He was inexperienced." Tilus responded. There was more conversation and debate on Sawyer and his joining the group, but it was tuned out as he focused his attention on Bahak. Of course, he thought. Just like the rest of them.

"Enough, Bahak! I don't love humans either, but time has been running out. We can't do this assignment with just the four of us, he has experience, and we have to get going." Tilus commanded with power. As he typed on a small terminal at the head of the desk, the map zoomed into one arm of the of the galaxy known as the Terminus Systems, into a cluster and then into a solar system before finally arriving at a planet. "A salarian has employed us to take out a competitor of his, here." Tilus said as the location on the planet was brought close into view.

"It's a smaller group, they have medical data that is very valuable that we need to extract as well, so it'll be a little different than our usual runs."

"Do they have security?" Naissa asked.

"Yeah, on site. Nothing we can't handle. Do you have info on credits?" The turian asked, turning his head to Amira.

The lavender asari brought up her omni tool, moving her other hand across, up, down, in each direction, moving pieces of information around until arriving at the correct screen.

"It's about thirty-thousand. More than we usually make on a job this small." She said.

"We just stocked up on thermal clips, so we won't have to worry about that at all. The salarian has left a vehicle for us to arrive in, the base has anti-air cannons, so we will have to take it on foot, so make sure to pack with that in mind. After it's done, we'll meet him again on Illium."

The batarian nodded while the turian looked around at the rest of the group.

"If it's all clear to everyone, then get some rest. We'll meet up again before we land to go over more details." The display disappeared and the turian took a step back from the table and returned to the cockpit, while the others slowly went their ways out of the room. Sawyer went over to the racks of guns, inspecting the small armory that was available. There were mostly submachine guns and heavy pistols, with a couple rifles. Gazing over each gun, he noticed the small details over each one. Dirt over the grips, nicks over the sides, scopes on a few. Most of them were gray, though a few had different colors in some areas. One handgun was bathed in red, with a white symbol of a skull and a fist colliding vertically. The symbol of the Blood Pack, wonder who they bought this off of, he thought. The Blood Pack are a vicious mercenary organization, allowing only vorcha and krogans into their ranks. "Nice gun, isn't it?" A voice behind and to his left spoke. Sawyer turned to see Naissa making her way towards the wall of guns. She gave a side look at him before moving her eyes to the gun. "This one's for Tilus, he got it after a firefight we had with them. Well, they had with them. I wasn't with them then. It was on some installation at the end of the galaxy, really remote, that needed protection for their 'goods' against raiders while the head of it , some big name on Illium, was gone. It wasn't usually their thing, but it was going to pay too well to pass up, so they took it. Who of all groups to show up, but the Blood Pack. It wasn't very long after they landed that it erupted into a fight. The terror of krogans and the flames that vorcha are so fond of would turn anyone away, but not Tilus, not his group of ten or eleven. Something like that. I had never seen so much blood before in my life, vorcha clawing into turians, batarians being thrown by krogans. They didn't seem to stand a chance, somehow they did. At the end of it, it was just Tilus. He was out of clips, a krogan was going to finish him, but he used this gun to kill him. A single shot from a gun that happened to be there, and he lived. He made it to Bahak in time to stop him from bleeding out, and they freed my sister and I."

Sawyer clenched his jaw at the story, trying to imagine the tale despite the distraction of the ship taking off from port. The thought of fighting a krogan was not something he wanted to think about, let alone having to fight several. He stood there silently, not really knowing what to say.

"They didn't seem horrible, so we stayed with them. Atleast they weren't as bad as the people who owned that installation." Naissa's blue toned features grew hateful at the mention of them.

"Anyway, Tilus has kept this gun since. Not sure if it is as a trophy, or a token of those people that are gone. He doesn't talk about it. There's stories for each of these guns, for the most part. This one is the only one that we all know the story to. I bet yours does too, if you have one."

The asari folded her arms and gazed over all of the guns for a moment, before quietly departing, leaving Sawyer to himself. He thought about his gun, it didn't have much of a story, aside from the recent use. That was distant in terms of time, now, to him. If he did have it up there, on the rack with the others, would he tell the true story behind it? Would he lie? He'd lie, the truth would give more prejudice to Bahak, and he didn't need more of a problem with him than there already was. He'd tell them that he got it off some dead human that wouldn't pay when he came to collect for the sand. Hid it from the higher ups in his old job, but was 'let go' for letting that 'customer' die sooner than necessary. Maybe they'd believe that. He felt his body yearn for something, and he was feeling a sickness come on, but he knew what it was. He needed to get blasted. Sawyer walked out of the meeting room and into the shared bedroom. Grabbing his satchel from off the floor, he walked out of the room again and down the stairs into the ship systems. Fat pipes and wires claimed a majority of the space down here, leaving just enough room for him to stand hunched. There was a cold blue light down here, creating shadows for the metal shapes. A terminal sat at the head of the room, directly below the meeting table in the upper level. He sat at the back of the little space, in an alcove created by thick pipes and some supply boxes filled with tools, repair supplies and other similar materials. He looked the way he came, and the direction of the entrance on the other side which mirrored the first one, save the difference of a ladder instead of stairs. Digging around in his bag, he moved the parts to his rifle out of the way, he'd worry about hanging it up later. It was unimportant at the moment. He dug more anxiously in his bag, and found it. Pulling it out, it was a bag of red grainy substance. Red sand. His breathing was fast as he emptied the contents of the bag onto the floor. Looking desperately, he found a small wrench which he used to order the substance into a line. He dropped his face down to it quick and snorted it up, moving his nose along the line as he went, making sure to get it all. He closed his eyes in pleasure as he sat back and breathed a relieving sigh, his face in pain by the smile placed on it. His vision was bathed in a beautiful scarlet and he felt his center burn with ecstasy, as if he was the strongest person in the galaxy. Untouchable. Invulnerable. All was right, and not a thing could remove his power. He was invincible. He hovered his hand over the wrench he had previously used, both of which glowed a dark purple and blue. The wrench floated, and he directed it in front of him. Holding it there with this new force, it rotated slightly as it floated and he watched with dumb interest. After a few minutes had passed that felt like only precious seconds, the wrench dropped to the floor, clanging. His vision returned to normal, with the light in the room slowly draining to blue once more. He felt dead again, but atleast he didn't feel sick. He looked around and then stuffed his small bag into his pocket, collected his rifle and satchel and went his way towards the stairs, to return to the upper level. As he arrived to the stairs, he stopped himself from colliding with Amira. A surprised expression appeared on his face, as he didn't expect, or really want to, run into someone.


	6. Chapter 5

"Sawyer? What are you doing down here?" She asked.

"Just looking." He said

She had a confused look, but went on anyways.

"Sorry again about Bahak, I should have told you. He's a dick. He'll get over it, I hope at least. You can count on him having your back when we fight, he's hell, but he's loyal. Have you gotten settled in for the time being?"

"Yeah, Tilus showed me around, and I've taken the bunk on the right. I was just about to try to get some rest." He replied.

He had gotten settled in, to a degree. He had set his stuff where he wanted to, talked with the other crew members, and explored most of the ship.

"With your bag?" She asked with a questioning look.

Sawyer looked at the gun in his arms, and tried to explain the odd appearance.

"Naissa showed me the rack of guns, thought I'd put mine up there."

"Oh." Amira said with a nod of understanding, with a slight skepticism that few would have caught.

"Yeah." He said awkwardly.

"Well, see you later, I guess?" She sluggishly commented.

Sawyer nodded and stepped to the side, making his way into the meeting room and to the gun rack. Assembling and placing his gun there with the others, he stepped back to see how it fit with the rest. It was longer, by at least a foot, than the other rifles. It wasn't as bulky, but it seemed to accept its place well. The door to the cockpit opened behind him, and the steps of a turian moved over to his location. "That's a beauty of a gun." Tilus asked.

"It is." Sawyer replied.

Tilus nodded silently, staring at his red handgun with a contemplative sigh as Sawyer left the room and entered the sleeping quarters. He saw Amira again as he entered, but she showed no sign of acknowledgement of his presence as she shuffled her hands around in one of her drawers next to a bed on the left side of the room. He looked at her, standing there in a black tank and gray shorts, her obvious sleepwear. There was something valuable about that sight, that view. He looked for a moment, but a moment too long. She turned to see him.

"What?" She asked.

Sawyer shook his head and moved to the drawers next to his bunk, emptying some sleepwear into his satchel. He left to the bathroom and changed into those clothes before returning to the room. He negated a shirt, it made him too hot most of the time. He sat in his bed-nook, moving his legs into the blankets and after sliding the privacy wall shut, he removed his pink stone necklace and placed it on a slide out shelf that sat above his feet. Laying down finally, after so long. He let his eyelids fall with all their weight over his eyes, and soaked up the warmth of his bed, letting himself drift to sleep. As he slept and as Amira slept across the room, the other members of the crew gathered in the kitchen, finding some sort of sustenance or busying themselves with small errands while waiting for the call to meet again before then landing down at the site of their assignment. All save for Tilus, who was piloting the vessel. Bahak was sat at a table in the kitchen as Naissa entered, barely looking up and to his left at her while she did so. It was a smaller room than the meeting room that all of them had been in before, with a four and a half meter width and a six meter length, filled with a couple sets of small tables and chairs, and a sink in the center of the room, off to the left. Metallic cupboards and cabinets lined the left wall of the room, holding whatever ingredients for making meals or little snacks if they were in a rush. The asari moved around the island that held the sink, and went to a cabinet directly across from it, foraging for a small bite to eat. I bet her sister started this, she's always had a soft spot for humans, Bahak thought.

"Did Amira get the idea in her head to have another human join us?" He asked Naissa suspiciously from the corner.

"Yeah." She replied curtly.

There was a pause between them, both of them thinking. The sounds of a kitchen peppered their conversation and the silence, as did Bahak's chewing of food.

"Does she not think these things through? You remember last time, we were almost cost thousands of credits and you were almost shot." He said after the pause.

"For the record, I agree. I don't think we should have a human with us for a while, at least not until we get bigger. If that happens, but I don't think that we should boot him so soon. Tilus is giving him a chance, so should we. We'll know within the next job whether he's really worth it, though." Naissa said, with some chunks of food filling her blue cheeks.

"We can work fine without one of them. We could do things even better with some other type." Bahak said, scraping around the last bits of his meal on his plate before spooning it into his mouth. "If we really need to, I'll get another turian that was with me in the Blue Suns. He's not incompetent."

The batarian wondered if Tilus would let him execute the human if he didn't have the experience or skills that he claims to have. Would he stop me, and why? He's a waste of time, a pompous worm who's too arrogant to know his place, like the rest of his kind.

Bahak stood up from his chair, grabbing his plate and utensils and walking over to the sink to place them inside. Naissa glanced at his items quickly, before placing her own in there as well and subsequently leaving the room. As she walked out and down the hall, she remembered the human that Bahak was talking about. Jacob. A little similar to Sawyer, he was average height, albeit a little on the taller side for a human. He had a nose that humans described as neanderthal, whatever that meant. Too proud to admit his own shortcomings, he tried to act as if he knew what he was doing, but the whole crew saw through that. In the first, and only, battle that he joined them on, he had underestimated the weight and kick of his shotgun, which he had no skill at using. While trying to fire at a turian ahead of them some spray had landed almost too close to Naissa's own body. In response to his wild firing and close calls with almost every person on the team, the crew changed to operate as a four-man team, leaving the inexperienced and dangerous human to his own foolishness and eventual death. That job was harder from that point on, but was still done. Stepping down the stairs to the bowels of the ship, Naissa wondered if it would happen the same, but doubted it to an extent. Turning into the dimly lit space, she noticed that some of her tools were not where she had left them. Someone has been down here, she surmised. Wrenches, smaller boxes, and other such items were scattered and not in their orderly fashion as she prefers to have them. Annoyed, she gathered her things and returned them to their proper way before beginning work on the ship's system maintenance, ensuring that all functions could be performed with as little issue as possible. For the next few hours, the ship was silent, save for a low hum, as the crew members slept or did their personal operations to help pass the time until they arrived at their destination for the assignment.


	7. Chapter 6

As the ship entered the atmosphere of the bronze planet, millions of sand and rock particles battered the sides of the ship. It was hard to see through all of it, but it gave good cover. They had to hurry, the dust storm would be over quick. If those at the medical research base saw the unmarked ship coming in, they would know something was off. It wasn't one of their usual transport ships here to give them resources. After some time, it arrived at its temporary home, inside of a thin valley between two mountains. The six-wheeled land vehicle had made home there, with its salarian owner waiting for the ship's arrival, with its inhabitants. His employees, for the moment. The sun was highest in the sky, eradicating all shadows on this side of the planet. Sawyer slung his rifle around his shoulder and made his way towards the airlock, with the others scattered around him on their way there, too. His mind was focused on the next few hours, hoping that he could make this work. The door slid open and the group made their way out on to the dirt. As he looked around to dark brown rocks around him, he heard the door to the rover open and swing on its upward hinge. A green tinged salarian came out, dressed in black and yellow garb. "You are Tilus?" He asked quickly and abruptly.

"I am. This is my crew." He responded, with an arm extended out, introducing those behind him. "Doctor Hortik Faelis. It looks like the base has beefed up security a little bit since we last spoke, no one knows about our deal, but with where we are in the galaxy, it is never a bad idea. Are you well prepared?" His voice was higher pitched, as most salarian's voices were. It was as if someone had sped up a human news vid.

"Yes, this is the rover?" Tilus asked.

"Yes. I had some stronger outer plating installed, it should be able to withstand fire for quite a while. It is all terrain, and has fresh fuel. They don't have windows towards the southwest, but they do have a guard or two on watch. The data I need is on a couple of the computers, they rotate it to a new one everyday, so you will have to search for it. I'd have access to it if the head researcher wasn't such a prude. Anyways, I just need the data, but I don't want this traced back to me, so make sure it can't be."

Tilus nodded. "Any clue on where it will most likely be?"

The salarian considered the question for a minute, before finally answering.

"There's no real way to guess, they keep it random on purpose. However, most of the research is done in the center building, as I wrote to you in the message I sent you. If it does happen to be in there, I've sent another message with the lock code. As far as their records are concerned, the system is still secure, so you should get in just fine. The other areas are low tech security, so those should not be much trouble if it is in one of them."

Again, the turian nodded. "I'll contact you when it's done."

The salarian thanked him, and then started a long walk down the small valley to another rover.

"Alright, we are going to have some time until the sun starts to set. Naissa, can you check the vehicle and make sure it is fine? Despite what he said, we need to make sure this thing works, can't have it break down when we need it. Amira, I need you and Bahak to start moving things into the rover itself, listen for transmissions too. If anything on the site changes, we need to be able to change our plan with it. Sawyer, you and I will take a peek at the base."

A couple of the crew members nodded, and they all went their own ways to start their tasks. Naissa went back into the ship and gathered her tools and maintenance items, Amira and Bahak went in as well to gather ammo, the most well loved guns, and a grenade or two. Tilus started southward, and Sawyer followed his lead. They walked about thirty meters and then to the right, beginning to climb up the somewhat less steep hill compared to the incline the ship was in. They finally stopped at a V-shape crevice between two parts of the rocky hill. The turian grabbed some binoculars from his pack to get a better look. The base was mostly white, with some dark gray bare-boned platforms outside. A tall rectangular building rose up in the center, a few other ones about half as tall surrounded it. The more distanced gained from the center of the base, the more spread out the buildings were. Bridges crossed gaps here and there. A radio tower stood tall and strong to the north. This side of the base had few windows, the tall center building had virtually none, save for one that wrapped the perimeter near the top.

"Looks like going in from the southwest really is the best option. How good are you with that rifle?" Tilus asked without lowering the binoculars.

"I'm pretty good with it." Sawyer responded, hoping to keep the turian from believing he was a complete fool with the gun.

"As we drive up, I need someone to take out those two guards. If we do it quickly, then we'll be able to get in before they know something is wrong. Think you can handle one of them?"

Tilus took the binoculars away from his face and turned his head to the human. Sawyer's mind went to his skill with his rifle. He could shoot fine, but he wasn't as good if he was moving. Not with his rifle at least. He hadn't practiced with that constant change of position.

"Yeah." He said with a nod.

"Good. "

Sawyer thought about the other times he had fired his gun. It was the same now as it was then. Killing was not what he wanted to do, but he had to. It wasn't so much a situation where he had to choose between his own survival or theirs, but in a indirect way, it was. Without doing this, he was out of luck.

"Another thing, this is your first run with us, so I'm going to tell you ahead of time. Amira sees something in you that could be useful to us, and usually she is right. Usually. Just follow my orders when things get hot and you won't have anything to worry about. Got it?" The turian seemed to let a bit of slight concern for the human out through his words. Why this was, Sawyer did not know. Turians and Humans did not start off on the right foot, but they weren't enemies.

"Here's this, you'll need it." The turian unhooked a pistol from his side and handed it the human. It was a basic handgun, an M-3 Predator. It was inexpensive, but tough and reliable. One of the most common pistols in the galaxy, but not tough enough to be used in military, where it would fail to break through kinetic barriers. Sawyer took it from the three-fingered hand extended towards him and looked it over. A couple scratches here and there, but mostly unmarked. He thanked him and attached it to the pack at his side.


End file.
